This is inexplicable, even if Britain and France invade Beijing, it will not be a big deal to loot it, how can they do the thing of destroying the Old Summer Palace?

But only the Empress Dowager Cixi understood this tragedy that did not happen, and many years later, the wreckage of the Great Water Law was still standing in the withered grass, vividly in my mind. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

"I used to tell Emperor Wenzong a dream, now it's better to say it to the big guy again, I dreamed that Emperor Wenzong took me to hunt Mulan in autumn, and left the Old Summer Palace, Britain and France broke into this garden of ten thousand gardens together, burning, killing and looting all kinds of evil, the porcelain that could not be taken away was broken, the palaces were destroyed in flames, and the classics, calligraphy and paintings accumulated over the past dynasties were destroyed in one fell swoop."

"I'm a stingy person, and I'm reluctant to let these things be occupied by foreigners, so I asked myself to stay, but this dream, everyone knows that it is not my threatening words, foreigners' nature, if we are weak, they will encroach on us, if we are not in decline, I am afraid that it will immediately become their meal."

"The world of great controversy, that's it, either you die, or I live," the Empress Dowager Cixi looked indifferent, but her tone was indescribably firm, "The British seek India, and once India is safe, it will inevitably look eastward, and when the time comes, we will inevitably have another dispute with them, which is not what I want to see, so I have made up my mind, and Myanmar must not give up!" ”

This is to keep Shi Dakai and others, Prince Gong is about to open his mouth to persuade again, "Needless to say, Shi Dakai and others, I let them out, I have already said that if they have the heart to submit, I will never do the matter of rabbit dead dog cooking, those who believe in me have no worries, okay, Guo Songtao will tell the British what I mean." ”

"But the Queen Mother, if you don't agree to the British, I'm afraid that this visit to China will not get what the British want, and there will inevitably be trouble."

"If you make trouble, you will make trouble, who is afraid of whom?" Empress Dowager Cixi raised her eyebrows, "We are not soft persimmons, we can pinch them when we say them, of course, the tone should be softer, and it is true that we can't have quarrels." The Prime Minister's Yamen must do all these things well, and also prevent the British from taking advantage of them to make trouble. ”

On the second day after the Empress Dowager Cixi was informed that Britain had something to do with Burma, the British ambassador and the French ambassador went to the Prime Minister's Yamen in person to protest against the Qing Dynasty's dispatch of Ege to Vietnam, and the content of the protest was nothing more than interference in the internal affairs of other countries and affecting national autonomy.

Guo Songtao had no time to pay attention to them, he still needed to negotiate with other countries on other affairs, Yi Xuan replied, "Vietnam is still a vassal of China, and it is very common for my Qing Dynasty to send envoys to communicate with each other, and the king of Vietnam has already sent an excerpt to the Imperial Court of the Imperial Court, explaining that it was your country that used force to force him to sign a treaty to secede from China, and it was definitely not his intention, and he also wanted me to administer justice for him. ”

Although Yixuan said so, he also knew that the symbolic impact of the union of Britain and France was very huge, after all, it was a Western power, which should not be underestimated, Yixuan found Feiyunxuan, Prince Gong frowned slightly, "The British side, don't care, the Queen Mother has already given an order, let's not point fingers, the French must be appeased here, Vietnam will never allow the division of the Tianyi Dynasty, the French are nothing more than asking for money and face," Prince Gong gritted his teeth, "If you can't do it, you have to spend money to buy peace." ”

Bao Jun has prepared a policy of tariff reduction and exemption for some items of the French, and listed them in detail, Prince Gong brought the booklet to the Qinzheng Palace and talked about it with the Empress Dowager Cixi, "The two strong alliances, we have no way to resist now, the Empress Dowager has already made up her mind, we can't retreat to the British, we might as well make concessions to the French, whether or not the dispute in Vietnam can be resolved, the French can be left alone, presumably it is a great achievement." ”

"Alone? If so, it would be really good. The Empress Dowager Cixi took the list of preferential taxes and fees that Prince Gong took out to give the French, and looked at it carefully, "You can't buy the French with these, since you want to smash the French to death with silver, why not take a bigger one?" ”

"What does the Queen Mother mean?" Prince Gong seemed to understand something, and said slowly.

"Yes, now all countries in the world, comparable to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there are all the great powers vying for hegemony, and naturally there are vertical and horizontal alliances, they want to target us, we can't wait to be beaten passively, otherwise as time goes by, we still think that our China is such a good bully, I give this to the French, this gift is not so pleasant, the French always have to pay a little price."

Prince Gong understood, "That's naturally Vietnam." ”

"Yes, Vietnam, of course, Vietnam must remain neutral, and at the very least, China and France must be their suzerains and accept the jurisdiction of the two countries." Empress Dowager Cixi smiled, "I don't know if the French are willing or not?" If you don't, you won't be able to give this gift. ”

Prince Edward had breakfast in front of the harmonious garden, which was the first European-style fountain hall in the Old Summer Palace built in the 16th year of Qianlong, and the nine curved verandahs on the left and right sides of the building were connected to the two-story octagonal hall, which was the place where the emperor played Chinese and Western musical instruments. The south of the building is a large begonia fountain, which is equipped with a fountain composed of copper sheep, copper duck and Western turn-tailed stone fish. Edward was sitting on the second floor of the palace, looking at the fountain from afar, the palace people poured oatmeal and milk, and a eunuch came over and bowed his hand and said, "Qiyu and the prince, the queen mother has gone to discuss state affairs, and she can't come to have breakfast with the prince." ”

After translating with him, Prince Edward nodded, and smeared a layer of butter on his toast with a knife, "I see, please come and have afternoon tea with her in the afternoon." ”

The eunuch struck a thousand times, turned to leave, and after a while, Bazali, the deputy minister of foreign affairs who lived near the left, came over angrily and bowed to Prince Edward's floating skin, "Your Highness, the Chinese actually made such an impudent request!" ”

"Minister Bazali, what makes you so angry?" Edward took a sip of milk and said indifferently, "The Chinese are just unwilling to settle the dispute over the Ganges River Basin, and other things are still very cooperative, and I believe that your courtesy in China is much more popular than any other country." ”

"I believe very much in the politeness of the Chinese on the surface, their superficial skills are really good, but secretly acting is very shameless, I got a confidential message from the French embassy," he waved all the servants back, "the Chinese are ready to collude with the French!" (To be continued.) )